Improvement in hat-shaving machines



2 Sheets--Sheet 1.

R. EIGKIEMEYER. Hat-Shaving Machine. Nb. 217,079.

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Wa l/ eams:

NJETEas, PHOTO-LITNOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D C.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

d-July1,

Pat

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Inven/ZZW N.PETERS, FHOTO-L1THOGRAPHEPL WASHINGTON. D C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLFEIOKEMEYER, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAT-SHAVING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,079, dated July 1,1879; application filed April 4, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BUnoLF EIOKEMEYER, of Yonkers, in the county ofWestchester and State of New York,have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Hat-Shaving Machines; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnishedand forming a part of the same,'is atrue, clear, and completedescription of my invention.

The class of machinery to which my present invention pertains is, so faras my knowledge extends, novel with me, and the machinery shown anddescribed in my Letters Patent No.

7 210,509, dated December 3, 1878, is the first organized mechanism ofwhich I have cognizance by which the operation of shaving felt hatscomposed wholly or in-part of fur could be practically performed, ithaving been done prior to my said invention only by means of a knife inthe hand of a workman.

As stated in my prior Letters Patent referred to, no actual shaving ispractically involved in the so-called shaving operation, because theobjectionable coarse hair which is in the fur and is to be removed fromthe hatbody is seldom, if ever, cut, but is instead pulled out bodily,and if the hair should be cut at the surface of the felt the attendantstubble would deprive the hats of that soft finish so desirable in furgoods.

At the beginning of my experiments upon this subject I confined myattention to that mode of operation which involved the use ofareciprocatin gknife, and theimpartingthereto of a motion whichcorresponded to its movement when used as a hand implement; but mypresent improvements relate to machinery in which the knife or knivesare continuously moved or driven in one direction over the surface ofthe hat-body, and with such a knife or knives I employ supporting,feeding, and controlling mechanism, which I prefer to be substantiallysimilar to that shown and described in my said prior Letters Patent.

The prime object sought by me through my present invention is anincreased capacity for performing the required service as compared withmy original machines, and the knives being driven continuously in onedirection the new machines are much more smoothly and steadily operatedthan the reciprocating-knife machines. I

The main feature of my invention consists in the combination, with asuitable supporting-bed adapted to occupy the interior of a hat-body, ofa knife or knives, which are mounted on a'revolving knife-head, and aremoved or driven continuously in one direction.

The manner of mounting and driving a knife or knives thus driven may beconsiderably varied, and I hereinafter show two methods of mounting anddriving the knives, in one of which each knife moves more rapidly at oneend than at the other, said movement in that respect being somewhatsimilar to the movement of the reciprocating knife in my former machine.By the other method, hereinafter shown,'the knives are so mounted thatthey are driven with equal speed at both ends thereof-that is to say, Iemploy knife-heads of different form. In one machine I have shown theknives mounted radially on a revolving disk, andin the other they aremounted longitudinally on the periphery of a revolving cylinder.

My invention further consists in the combination, with a knife or knivescontinuously driven in one direction and a supportingbed adapted tooccupy the interior of a hat-body, of mechanism for separating theknives from the bed, whereby a hat can be readily inserted and removed;and in this connection my invention further consists in the combination,with a revolving knife-head and supportingbed, of a treadle by which thehead and bed may be separated, and I employ therewith a stop formaintaining them in a s.eparatedcondition, as in my former machines and,further, in the combination, with the knife or knives thus driven andthe supporting-bed, of mechanism for adjusting the bed and knives withreference to each other so that hat-bodies of various thicknesses may beproperly shaved; and in this connection my invention further consists inthe combination, with a revolving knife or knives mounted on a diskdriven by a sliding shaft, of a treadle and an adjustable stop, whichadjustably limits the movement of the disk and knives toward thesupportingbed and the hat thereon.

In my prior machines the rearward motion resents the same intop View.

of the reciprocating knife served to free its edge from the hair pulledfrom the felt during its forward movement, and, as this freeing functionis important, I have combined with my revolving knives devices by whichthe hair is removed from the edges of the knives; and another feature ofmy invention consists in the combination, with revolving knives in ahat-shaving machine, of an edge-clearer, which removes the adhering hairfrom the edges of the knives. An edge-clearer such as,

is intended to be embraced by me as a part of my invention in thecombination last stated may be variously constructed, and l. have hereinshown two forms thereof, one of which operates to induce a current ofair across the edge of each knife for removing the hair, while the otheroperates by direct contact with the hair while being carried on theedges of the knives. In this connection my invention further consists inthe combination, with a knife mounted on a revolvingdisk, of adeflectingplate on the rear of the disk, which, when the disk isrevolved, causes a current of air to be forced or driven across the edgeof the knife and through the opening in the disk, which is occupied inpart by the edge of the knife.

I am well' aware that machines have heretofore been employed forshearing and napping hats and woolen fabrics; but in all such machinesthere are movin g cutters which either co-operate, so that the edges ofone set of cutters sweep over the edges of another set, or there aremoving cutters which sweep over the edge of a stationary cutter, and inboth cases they operate after the manner of shears. It will readily beseen that such machines cannot pull hair from felt, which is the primeobject of my machine.

To more particularly describe my invention, I will refer to theaccompanying drawings, of which there are two sheets.

Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents, in front elevation, a disk-machineembodying the several features of my'invention. Fig. 2,,Sheet 1, rep-Fig.3, Sheet 2, represents the same in vertical section adjacent to lineas y, Fig. 2. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, represents, in central vertical section,a cylindermachine embodying my invention. Fig. 5, Sheet 2, represents aknife detached f om the machine and a handle used therewith whilegrinding it.

The frame of the machine is composed of three cast-metal skeletonizedplates, of such form as to afford the requisite mountings, and A denotesthe-front plate, and A A respectively, denote side plates, which may beconnected at their rear ends with each other by tie-braces.

The supporting-bed B, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, has a vertical face instead ofa horizontal one, as in my former machines.

The conical feed-roll a, feed-wheel 1), its weight, and treadle O aresubstantially as shown in my prior patent, to which reference D may behad for a more complete description.

The feed-roll a is driven by gear 0, cone-pulleys c and belt 0 from themain shaft D of the machine.

The main shaft is provided with a drivingpulley and the usual loosepulley at one end, and upon the other end the knife-disk E is mounted sothat its front face occupies a vertical plane parallel with thecoincident face of the supporting-bed B.

The knives e are mounted on the rear side of the disk so that theiredges project slightly through radial slots or. openings therein, andthey are secured and adjusted at the proper angle by clampingbars e andset-screws 6 substantially as in my prior patent. The angle at whichthese knives are set with reference to the surface of the bed or of thehatbody when thereon is such as to cause the knives to engage with andpull the hairs without cutting them. The angle of the knife may besomewhat variedsay, from twenty .to twenty-five degrees to the face ofthe disk.

On the disk shown fou'r knives are mounted; but the number thereof maybe varied, it being, however, desirable that the disk be balanced eitherby oppositely-located knives or corresponding counter-weights.

, Care should be taken in adjusting the knives that their edges do notproject too far beyond the face of the disk; otherwise they mayhave toorank a hold upon the hats and injure them. The speed of the disk may bevaried; but good results will be attained it each knife have, say, fromseven to eight hundred movements across the bed per minute.

For clearing the pulled hair from the edges of the knives thus mounted,each is provided with an edge-clearer in the deflecting-plate F, whichis mounted on the rear side of the disk parallel with the knife-edge onthe opposite side of the knife-slot, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Thespace intervening between the disk and the inner surface of this plateis similar to the interior space of an elongated funnel, so that whenthe disk is rapidly revolved air is taken in at the wide opening andforced out of the narrow opening between it and the disk, adjacent tothe knife-edge, and across it, blowing the hair therefrom outward fromthe face of the disk through the knife-slots.

In order that the bed and knives may be rendered adjustable withreference to each other, so that hats of different thicknesses may beproperly operated upon, the bed and the feeding mechanism may be capableof adjustable movement; butas a simpler construction is involved byhaving the knife-disk mov-" able to and from the bed, I prefer thatmethod, and therefore the main shaft D, on which the knife-disk ismounted,vis fitted in its boxes 01 r so that it can slidelongitudinally; and I so construct this portion of the machine that thedisk may be moved rearward from the bed, to afford space for moreconveniently placing a hat-bodyon the bed, as well as for removing it.

The disk and its shaft are moved by means of a treadle, O, the lever Gof which, at its rear end, is connected, by a rod, f, to a lever, g,which has its fulcrum in a rock-shaft, h, provided with a vertical arm,t, which engages with a sleeve, 70, on main shaft D, and confinedbetween two collars, k, which are secured to the shaft by set-screws.The lever g has a Weight, g, which serves to maintain the knife-disk inits most forward position when not otherwise controlled by the treadle,and for maintaining the knife-diskin its most rearward position withoutcontinuing foot-pressure on the treadle. -Ahinged stopfinger, 9 on thefront of the frame is relied upon for supporting the outer end of leverg, and preventing its being depressed by its weight 9 For adjustablylimiting the forward movement of the disk toward the bed, so as toproperly operate upon a thin or a thick hat-body, the lever 9 isprovided with a stop-screw, l, the lower end of which has aresting-contact with the upper surface of a cross-bar, 1, whereby thelever maybe limited with reference to'its downward movement, to securethe proper location of the knife-disk with reference tothe bed. As in myprior machines, the same treadle controls the feed-wheel b,itstreadle-rod I) having a slot at its lower end, which admits of themovement of the knife-disk away from the bed in advance of the movementof the feedwheel, and it also secures the movement of the feed-wheel inadvance of the knife-disk when the latter is moving toward the bed, itbeing desirable that the hat-body be properly held on its bed so long asthe knife-disk is'in contact therewith.

The hatbody, when flattenedand in position for shaving, is shown intriangular dotted outline in Fig. 1 and in solid lines at m, Fig. 3. Theconical feed-roll a and the bed B, clad as heretofore with an elastic oryielding material, are within the hat-body, as shown, and the movementof the portion of the hat-body next to the knives by the feedingmechanism is in a direction opposite to the movement of the knives whenshaving.

The machine shown in Fig. 4 has a knifecylinder instead of a knife-disk.The cylinder H is mounted in bearings at the end of a pivoted frame, n,which admits of its being lifted and lowered by the treadle G for theplacing of a hat-body upon the feed-bed B, which, in this instance, ishorizontal, and supports the hat-body m, as in my prior patent, and hasalso the same feeding mechanism. The frame a has adjusting stopscrews,(0ne of which is shown at a,) which correspond in function with thestop-screw Z, previously described in connection with the disk-machinefor ad ustably locating the revolving knife carrier or head withreference to the bed.

The knife cylinder H is a skeletonized structure, having two ends andproperly slotted longitudinal peripherical sections, to the inner sidesof which the knives c are secured by bars and screws, as in the diskpreviously described, and also as in my prior patent, and said knivesare set therein at the proper angle to perform the desired service. Thetreadle G lifts the knife-cylinder in advance of the stopping of thefeed mechanism, and starts the feed in advance of the arrival of thecylinder into working position, substantially as in the other machinesreferred to. The form of the knife-cylinder precludes the employment ,ofan edge-clearer adjacent to each knife of the character previouslydescribed in connection with the disk-machine, although an independentfan may be used with fair results. I

prefer, however, in a cylinder-machine to employ as an edge-clearer arapidly-revolving brush-wheel, I, as shown, which, by being driven morerapidly than the cylinder, and in proper relation to the edges of theknives, will keep. them clear of pulled hair.

The ends of the knife head or cylinder H are provided with openings 17,as shown, through which air passes to the interior of the cylinder whenin motion, and thence outward through the knife-slots and the other openspaces in its periphery. The currents of air thus induced contribute tothe clearing of the knifeedges; but, in order that the dust and hair maybe thrown away from the operator,

ahood may be employed partially covering the cylinder, as indicated indotted lines. The openings p may each be provided at their outer sideswith funnelshaped plates for i11- creasing the air-currents, which maythus be rendered of sufficient power to properly clear the kniveswithout the use of the brush-wheel clearer.

A detached knife, 6, is shown in Fig. 5. It is preferably provided witha shank or tang, by which it may be secured to a handle, 0, providedwith a set-screw, whereby it may be conveniently held and controlledwhile being ground or sharpened.

In my former machines the knife is provided with a permanent handle, andsuch might be used in these machines, although it is deemedpreferablethat the handles should not project beyond the periphery ofthe disk or the ends of the cylinder; and to increase the sizes of diskor cylinder to accommodate the handles would involve weight and cost notbalanced by-any practical advantages.

In view of the detailed description of the mechanism thus given, it willbe readily understood that while either machine is in mo.

tion the depression of the treadle will -render the bed accessible tothe placing of the hat thereon, and that on releasing the treadle thefeed-motion will cause the hat-body to move over the surface of the bed,while the knives operate in pulling the hair, and that when theoperation is completed and the treadle depressed the hat-body may beremoved and another substituted.

. As stated in my prior patent in connection with thereciprocating-knife machines, these present machines, in which theknives continuously move in one direction, maybe employed to actuallyshear the felt with results similar to, those heretofore attained withpouncing mechanism operating upon flat or straight surfaces.

I do not limit my invention to .the exact construction and mechanismshown, as it is obvious that it may be considerably varied or modified.without departure from my invention or materially affecting the results.

It is also obvious that some of the stated combinations of mechanism arecapable of profitable use independently of other mechanism; but forattaining the best results I prefor machines embodying substantially theseveral features particularly shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patcut- 1. The combination, in a machine for shaving hats, ofa supporting bed and a knife or knives mounted upon a revolvingknife-head, substantially as described.

2. In a hat-shaving machine, the combination, with a supporting-bed forhat-bodies and a knife or knives mounted in a revolving head, ofmechanism for separating the knives from the bed, substantially asdescribed.

3. In a hat-shaving machine, the combina tion, with a revolvingknife-head and supportin g-bed, of a treadle for separating them, and astop, whereby they may be maintained in a separated condition for theready insertion or removal of a hat-body, substantially as described.

4. I11 a hat-shaving machine, the combination, with a revolvingknife-head and a supporting-bed adapted 'to occupy the interior of ahat-body, of adjusting mechanism, substantially as described, forsetting the knife-head and bed with reference to each other for operating on hat-bodies of various thicknesses, as set forth.

5. The combination, with a supporting-bed, of a knife-head mounted upona sliding shaft, a treadle for moving said shaft longitudinally, and anadjustable stop for -adjustably limiting the movement of the knife-headtoward the bed, substantially as described.

6. In a hat-shaving machine, the combination, with knives in a revolvinghead, of an edge clearer for removing from each knifeedge the pulledhair which adheres thereto, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with aslotted revolving disk or knife-head and itsknife or knives, of a deflecting-plate for each knife at the rear of thedisk, which, when the head is revolved, causes a current of air to beforced across the edge of the knife for removing hair therefrom,substantially as described.

RUDOLF EIGKEMEYEB.

Witnesses:

J. GEORGE N ARR, F. MUELLER.

